1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems for managing plant material. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system for gathering, transporting, and processing vascular aquatic plants, particularly water hyacinths.
2. Description of the Background Art
The management and processing of vascular aquatic plants is of increasing importance in the fields of aquaculture, and aquatic plant water treatment technologies. In addition to occurring in fresh water bodies of water, vascular aquatic plants such as water hyacinth may be a component of an integrated aquaculture and bioremediation system or a cultivatable stand alone crop. The ability to effectively manage and harvest biomass associated with aquatic plant systems, or as a method of water resource management, is critical to control or mediate the potential buildup of excessive biomass and the potential leaching of stored nutrients.
Eichhornia Crassipes Solms, or water hyacinth, is a bulbous plant of the family Pontederiaceae and is native to the South America. In the United States water hyacinths can be found in warmer regions such as Florida and other southeastern states. The plant grows on water with roots that extend only slightly below the surface of the water. Consequently, hyacinths float free in fresh water lakes, rivers, and canals. The difficulty with water hyacinths, whether cultivated or xe2x80x9cnaturally occurringxe2x80x9d is twofold: first, they grow in extremely dense patches; second, under ideal growing conditions, they rapidly reproduce. Water hyacinth densities can reach 40 to 150 wet tons per acre. In terms of growth rate, the area covered by hyacinths can double every 20 days. Each of these factors may result in ecological and economic harm to regions in which hyacinths grow and can pose difficulties in management of hyacinths as a cultivatable crop. The difficulty in dealing with water hyacinths has been recognized for a long time. The need to control these plants was first acknowledged at the turn of the century, and is documented at: www.saj.usace.army.mil/conops/apc/new_folder/timeline.htm. Thus, there has been a long felt need for improved water hyacinth management.
Nonetheless, water hyacinths are proven to have some commercial benefits. For example, water hyacinths can be grown within aquaculture systems or non point or point source treatment systems to remove or reduce organic and nutrient pollutants. Additionally, water hyacinths can be processed into animal fodder or fertilizer. For these reasons, water hyacinths are often commercially grown and harvested. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,811,007 and 5,820,759 the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
Whether naturally occurring or grown commercially, there have been a variety of devices designed for the removal and harvesting of water hyacinths. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,616 to Stewart et al. discloses a water craft with rotatable drums that permit the craft to float on the surface of water. The drums support ribs which condition plant materials. Plants are directed onto a conveyor by way of a rope which is paid out from a reel on the craft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,534 to Bryant illustrates a harvesting barge with converging booms which form a throat into which plant material is collected. The barge also includes discharge nozzles for inducing flow into the throat and onto a pick up conveyor.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,258 to McNabb illustrates a barge onto which floating hyacinth material is conveyed. The barge also includes a grinder for chopping the hyacinth material into a size suitable for bailing. Thereafter, hyacinth material is bailed and passed to shore.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,204 to Harvey-Rioux et al. discloses a shredding head which is carried upon a flotation platform. The shredding head, which is suspended by a hanger from a boom, includes a rotor assembly for shredding vegetation.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,621 to Stewart, III et al. discloses a shore mounted harvesting apparatus which is adapted to gather plant material from the surface of water. The apparatus includes a series of rotating drums which are used in serrating and shredding the plant material. The shredded material is thereafter transferred to a chopping assembly that comminutes the plants into very small pieces.
Although each of the above described devices achieves its individual objective, none of them disclose the use of two vehicles working in tandem to collect, transport, and process water hyacinth material. Nor do the above described devices disclose a header mechanism capable of conveying aquatic plants to a conventional forage harvester.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement to water plant collection devices which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system whereby water plants, such as hyacinths, can be easily and completely harvested for subsequent transport and disintegration.
It is another object of the present invention to enable large quantities of water plants to be removed with a minimum amount of machinery or user intervention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an articulated grapple which is adapted for removing plant material from the surface of water.
Still yet another objection of the present invention is to create a system whereby two vehicles, working in tandem, collect, transport, and disintegrate water plant materials.
Yet another object of the present invention is to enable materials to be quickly and efficiently transported between two collection vehicles by way of a water flume.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to enable a conventional forage harvester to be utilized in disintegrating plant materials.
Another object of the present invention is to process plant materials in a header such that the processed plant materials can be subsequently disintegrated by a conventional forage harvester.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention are provided with reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
For the purpose of summarizing this invention, the invention comprises a system for gathering and processing materials and, in particular, plant materials such as water hyacinths. The system utilizes both a transfer mechanism and a header unit. The transfer mechanism includes a rotatable boom. A grapple is positioned at a first end of the boom for use in gathering plant material. The header unit similarly includes a boom. The boom of the header unit is rotatably interconnected to a collection bin and includes a grapple at one end. The collection bin, in turn, includes means to transport plant material placed therein to a chopper. The system further includes a transport which runs along side of the transfer mechanism and header unit. The transfer mechanism grapple functioning to place collected material onto the transport for delivery to the header unit grapple. Thereafter, the header unit grapple gathers the plant material and places it in the collection bin for transport.
The grapples utilized by the system of the present invention are of identical construction. They include a pair of gathering arms having distal and proximal ends. The proximal ends are pivotally interconnected to one another, with the angular orientation of the arms being adjustable. Each of the grapples is adapted to be interconnected to a boom. Each grapple further includes a ram that is pivotally interconnected between the gathering arms. Movement of the ram causes rotation of the gathering arms. Furthermore, the ram has a fully extended orientation wherein the grapple is in an opened orientation and a fully retracted orientation wherein the grapple is in a closed orientation. The construction of the grapples makes them ideally suited for collecting water plants.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the more pertinent and important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood so that the present contribution to the art can be more fully appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.